Congress Passes Landmark Community Radio Act

A leftover nugget of good news from before the holiday: Congress passed legislation allowing for the creation of hundreds or thousands of new independent, community-based, non-commercial radio stations on American airwaves. Here’s to the “outdated” medium of AM/FM radio becoming a surprise bulwark against the trend of corporate media consolidation. Pitchfork writes:

Yesterday, on the same day that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed, another significant bill was passed by both the House and Senate: the Local Community Radio Act.

This is a major victory for those aspiring to become community broadcasters, and an extremely exciting development for community-driven radio nationwide. Pitchfork very much looks forward to reporting on and supporting these new stations as they appear.

As the Huffington Post reports, this legislation allows for the creation of new non-commercial stations on American airwaves– a number that could reach to the hundreds or even thousands. In a press release, the Future of Music Coalition said, “The addition of more Low Power FM (LPFM) stations will increase local civic engagement, diversify the airwaves, support local music and culture, assist during emergencies, expand religious expression, and provide a platform for the voices of underrepresented communities to be heard.”

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Ummm, if it’s non-commercial, how is it paid for? I’m wary that it’ll be paid for by peeps like George Soros who funds socialist outfits.

http://twitter.com/ostralopithicus Tyler Jordan

Ummm, if it’s non-commercial, how is it paid for? I’m wary that it’ll be paid for by peeps like George Soros who funds socialist outfits.

Hadrian999

don’t worry you can still listen to Rush and Glenn all you want, being non commercial doesn’t exactly mean no income, churches aren’t exactly commercial but look how much money they make. people just have to think outside and find ways to get funding.

Hadrian999

don’t worry you can still listen to Rush and Glenn all you want, being non commercial doesn’t exactly mean no income, churches aren’t exactly commercial but look how much money they make. people just have to think outside and find ways to get funding.

Adaugeo

There’s a lot of radio hobbyists that will love to get on the air and just talk about local events. I’m wondering how it will be regulated to keep people from trying to compete for airwaves with stronger signals. In any case I’m so grateful that a form of public discourse is open again to the public and out of corporate hands in some small part if only that. This has to have been the most productive “lame duck” congress in the history of the United States and it makes me wonder why these things weren’t passed before if possible now and how long they’ll last now that the party more inclined to cave to lobbyists are back in the majority of our legislative branch. I know Republicans aren’t much worse than Democrats, but if you think it’s an even split, please Google Jack Abramoff or read the recent article on the Rep. Darrell Issa (R. Calif.) listed here http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/46995.html

Adaugeo

There’s a lot of radio hobbyists that will love to get on the air and just talk about local events. I’m wondering how it will be regulated to keep people from trying to compete for airwaves with stronger signals. In any case I’m so grateful that a form of public discourse is open again to the public and out of corporate hands in some small part if only that. This has to have been the most productive “lame duck” congress in the history of the United States and it makes me wonder why these things weren’t passed before if possible now and how long they’ll last now that the party more inclined to cave to lobbyists are back in the majority of our legislative branch. I know Republicans aren’t much worse than Democrats, but if you think it’s an even split, please Google Jack Abramoff or read the recent article on the Rep. Darrell Issa (R. Calif.) listed here http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/46995.html